Saturday, April 16, 2016

Dart Jumps In

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, who oversees one of the nation's most crowded jails, voluntarily released video Friday that shows half a dozen incidents of excessive force by deputies at the county jail, saying the public has a right to see it.

The videos show violent encounters between jailers and inmates, including one in which an inmate is dragged through hallways by several officers, thrown into a cell and left with blood spattered on his shirt. Another shows two officers pushing a detainee to the ground with one of the jailers kicking him in the shoulders or face. Thirteen officers were fired or otherwise disciplined over the incidents.

But then this came to our e-mail:

Union Poll conducted Shows 96% of Sheriff officers have 'No faith' in Sheriff Dart to provide a safe and secure working environment.

[A] Cook County Division 10 Correction officer was pulled into a cell last week by three inmates and severely beating needing facial reconfiguration surgery. Teamsters local 700 is demanding the release of that video.

Teamsters Local 700 received calls today from both ABC Channel 7 and NBC Channel 5 regarding the Cook County Department of Corrections videos that were released to the media. We wanted to share this with the membership so you can see what we submitted versus what they actually use in the news segments, which will air today at 5 p.m.

Teamsters Local 700 sees this as nothing but a political move by Tom Dart, who is clearly seeking a public office position other than being Sheriff. After several years as in his current position, Dart has now decided to be transparent concerning these alleged excessive force incidents which makes us ask more questions:

Why are the inmates faces blacked out and not the officers?
Why doesn’t he show all the videos of incidents where inmates are attacking officers?
Where are all the videos of inmates sexually assaulting our officers?
Where’s the video of the Division 2 altercation last week where nearly 100 detainees rioted and our officers had to do everything in their power to stop it?

Let's see how much play that side of the story gets, or is it just the anti-police agenda.

51 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Merit board member Vince Winters uncle Willie is a top aide to Dart. However, Dart maintains the Board is independent. Vince sells his soul to Dart for a 25k year job... Look at his decisions, he is constantly railroading good cops destroying their lives. The Winters family are good people. Shame on Vince for going to bed with Dart.

With plenty of experience with CPD & CCDOC from 1980-2001, I can say that I have seen many an ass kicked at Cook County Jail, yet have had harmless interactions with CPD throughout my years of idiocy. I understand that you generally don't go to jail unless you're a fuck-up - I do. (Even with my background, which hasn't prevented me from being having a business now, and rather Conservative views because I know firsthand how fucked up things are.)But I've seen some brutal attacks by the CO's, and over menial shit. I once had a CO slap the glasses off my face & break them because I didn't go to my cell immediately upon being ordered to. Yes, I disobeyed, and had I followed orders, I would have not been subjected to the loss of my sight in that environment. I literally cannot function without them, I see only blurs from more than a foot away. But did my standing & watching the morning news 1 minute beyond the order warrant hitting me, breaking my glasses & effectively making me helpless? No. Dart may be an attention-whore, but he knows the allegations have surfaced before, and in the wake of the current circus, he might as well make the show of openness.

If residency was removed from the CPD employment requirement, where would Officers relocate? Assuming that if we would win a lawsuit against the City for residence, we would still have a limit on where we can reside (NYPD is surrounding Counties). Let’s poll people on where they would relocate and why. Please take into account under NYPD rules we could only move to surrounding Counties which include Lake County, Du Page County, Kane County, Will County, or Lake County IN.

Good luck with that... I was a CO for the state of Texas for a few years. I did a bit as outside security and was part of a team that responded to incidents anywhere in the facility.Got a call that a man down unit was going off I was the first one there and could see a convict beating a female CO with a 4 foot oak mop handle I hit the door then him grabbed her and drug her off the pod and turned her over to another CO and went back and snatched that CS up cuffed him and told him if he So much as said a fucking word I would rip his head off and piss in his mouth 2 weeks later I was called in for counseling and to sign my write up... It was then I realised they had more rights than I did and it was a rigged game... I quit less than 18 months later... The CO he beat was in hospital 3 weeks off the job for about 4 months but one thing makes me smile the socilitial pimple on humanities ass who hurt her hasn't seen 6 months of blue sky since then and that was more than 15 years ago... I Google his name from time to time or check with TDC inmate locator

Tom Dart is the worst Sheriff in the nation. No other Sheriff anywhere else in this nation is as incompetent as he is. He is the laughing stock of Sheriffs everywhere. All of the other Sheriffs nationwide are embarrassed by him. Trust me, I know.

More lawsuits we the tax payers will be paying to these fuckers that act like savages and don't obey the rules. Let's get rid of the jail and just put them up in four star hotels. Dart you truely are a fuckstick.

Please do you actually think the media will report the truth, that will not appeal to the BLM, politicians and the ACLU. The Media loves to bash the police or anyone connected to law enforcement and taint the news

If you're going to interact with the animals in the zoo, you're going to get bit! I don't know what the answer is, but I do know you can't domesticate some wild animals. I'm sure if the media shows any attack on a Corrections Officer, it will be spun to make it appear the poor criminal had no choice but to violently attack the Officer for some past unsubstantiated transgressions.Stay safe Officers, not everyone believes the media BS.

Undergrounded, if you haven't been in the jail since 2001 please keep in mind that those days where inmates are severely mistreated for petty offenses are long over. At this point, its an environment where the inmates are all indignant, pseudo lawyers that are looking to get rich from lawsuits. They are painted as mentally ill but they are mostly drug addicts and gang members who are highly aware of their social standing. They pretend to be mentally ill as it gives them access to psychotropic medication which acts as a substitute for their illegal street "fix". Also, the required psych eval guarantees them easy access to Social Security benefits when they get out of jail. At this point, with the amount of verbal disrespect, feces/urine thrown and physical attacks perpetrated against officers, there is no way the inmate is actually the "victim" at this point.

F Winters, Riordan and the rest of those merit board Tommy Dart lap dogs. We need to start airin their shit. They got rid of guys like Carey who would give the cops at least a fair shake. The Merit Board now is looking to hurt people. The videos prove it. First poster hit nail on the head. They got a sweet gig and are willing to sacrifice good people to remain in favor with Dart.when I run into Winters I'm going to tell his what POS he is

Tommy Dart a proud protege of, Mikey " I'm a legend in my own Mind' Sheahan and the once almighty powerful 19th Ward.it was Mikey Sheahan and the 19th Ward who engineered Tommy's rise to Sheriff. Tommy Dart is a typical 19th Ward politician and political hack. The 19th Ward politicians care nothing about anything except the $$$$$$$$$$.

Tom Dart, the son of Richard J. Daleys' bag man and 19th ward hack.The finest education including law school from the money dad "made". Placed in the states attorneys'office and failed, became state rep and failed,placed in an exempt job in the Sheriffs'office and failed! What's the next step in Chicago politics? Make him the Sheriff of course. Dart panders to the community for votes,hires the "right people"including a dozen or so relatives of the CHICAGO MEDIA and runs his office like the spoiled entitled brat that he is. Tommy fancies himself as the next Mayor of Chicago at the very least,that sick, narcissistic, "Daddy said I'm special" personality will settle for nothing less and the end will justify the means. If you asked a shrink about a person who is not liked by anyone that has contact with him,dresses like he is about to mow the lawn, surrounds himself with yes men, destroys those with any opinion other than his, has pizza and hug parties with killers,rapists and thieves while shi*ing on his employees etc. what would be the diagnosis? Yes tax payers not only have you elected a true political hack, you hit the bonus and also got one sick puppy in the same deal. Don't look for anything in the media though, the wives and kids all have jobs from Tom and you know what they say about that golden goose.

Let's take a person who was never taught to conform to rules,not sent to school, never taught right from wrong and told nothing is their fault. Add in drugs,booze, mental illness and that "fu*k the Police and everybody else mind set. Put that person,for maybe the first time in their life, in a regulated,follow the rules,society demands you be locked up and YES we are going to tell you what to do environment and what do you think is going to happen ? Never did anything they didn't want to do and now some Police is gona try to tell them how to do ? Aint having it!!! There are no fancy restraint chairs or any of that other equipment you see on TV,no SWAT team in the wings,no nothing this is Cook county, there's no money for things like that when the politicians are done stealing. You are the Officer, mantain order and insure the care and custody of the inmates (sorry Tom Dart,I meant guests) and staff.Oh the guest just took a fighters stance,refusing lawful orders,is inciting the other "guests" and now here he comes straight at you with blood in his eyes.Nothing but a pair of cuffs on your belt and the strong will to survive and go home to the kids. Watch the tapes, and pretend you are the Officer,there is no excessive force just human beings in blue uniforms trying to do a job and go home that day while Tom Dart sits in his office and helps to paint the agenda,vote for me and I'll set you free,rap on brother rap on.

Tom Dart wants to either :1). Run for Mayor2) Have the Legislature dissolve the CPD and suburban agencies in order to create a Metro PD like Indianapolis or Las Vegas and put the Sheriff in charge.

Dart is a political hack and we can thank the dufuss 19th Ward for launching this egomaniac's career. He never was a Police Officer or Deputy yet he is the top law enforcement officer in Cook Co. He ran a suicide campaign against the now deceased Judy Barr Topinka and lost. His reward was to inherit the Sheriff's Office from Mike Sheahan. And now little Tommy has to parrot Prickwrinkle's mantra of too many blacks in jail as he reminds black folk (and people) of his media circus at Burr Oak Cemetary. And the animal lovers revere Tommy for his crusade against dog fighting - even if it means going to Kankakee Co. Without notifying their local Sheriff that little tommy is comin to der town (but the media was notified so the mini cam could capture brave little tommy.). And little tommy was also featured by Time magazine for refusing to carry out court orders. What a clown! Thanks Tom Hynes & the 19th Ward for creating this parasite.

Blogger Undergrounded said...With plenty of experience with CPD & CCDOC from 1980-2001, I can say that I have seen many an ass kicked at Cook County Jail,

So you were an assh*le for 21 years,whats your rap sheet look like,how many honest people did you fu*k over in those 21 years? My heart bleeds that a self admitted assh*le who is responsible for God only knows how much harm to society once again decided I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do and caught a well deserved crack. Your parents should have given you a bitch slap long before you were old enough to be in jail.

Oh Tommy now what your want your guards beat up or killed in that hell hole? What can of a man are you, if you can even call yourself that? Thats a real punk move Tommy looks like your guards just went fetal on the way to comatose. Pandering to the thugs and gang bangers and you call yourself a "sheriff?" Your a coward Tommy putting your front-line officers in jeopardy!

onymous said...Merit board member Vince Winters uncle Willie is a top aide to Dart. However, Dart maintains the Board is independent. Vince sells his soul to Dart for a 25k year job... Look at his decisions, he is constantly railroading good cops destroying their lives. The Winters family are good people. Shame on Vince for going to bed with Dart.

4/16/2016 12:25:00 AM

The same Vince Winters that is on the board of Operating Engineers local 399? Gee, no wonder why the guy NEVER gets back to you for ANYTHING! If youse ain't connected we don't want youse! We don't want nobody that nobody didn't send. Those Shit-cago values again. It's the Shit-cago way.

You have to be a real scumbag to work as a Gustapo agent on the Merit Board for toupee Tommy. They meet one day a month, making 28k a year, and getting a pension out of it. In return you have to destroy families and good cops. They have 80% of their cases of termination overturned. The Sheriff has the most suicides of any police agency in the country and these board members could care less. Some of those merit board decisions I read were total BS. I don't know how they sleep at night knowing they are destroying people.

You people who are railroading Vince Winters are completely wrong. He has done more for the 19th Ward, and keeping 19th Warders employed than anyone since Jeremiah Joyce. Stop your whining. On top of that, his friends are primarily CPD/sheriff's dept cops. You don't like the guy, I understand. But don't make him out to be something he is not. He and O'Shea are two of the people keeping the 19th Ward together.

In all of my years, I have never known of a boss (elected, appointed or otherwise) that hates his employees so much.

Even his highest level people are bailing out. His Chief of staff gone. Zelda is gone at the end of the month I am told. His CFO any day now. His Chief of Detectives (the drunk casino fighter) gone. Smitty (who was a real nice guy BTW) gone. Even that clown who ran OPR is gone. His Chief Technology Officer went to Florida, saying what a shit show this place is. Any chances of us advancing technology are now gone too.

I know a lot of people in this department, and I will tell you that the staunchest supporters and apologists you could ever imagine are shaking their head privately. You can't tell him he is wrong. Ever. Like the Emperor without clothes. And he actually needs to stand closer to the shower head. A 50 plus year old man with really poor hygiene. Elected what? 3 times?

To be the Police you have to act like the police. To lead people your appearance has to command respect. He looks like he was just out plowing the field or raking up the leaves.

I do not have a horse in the race as far as the hookers, puppies or the evictions. I could care less. I do however care a lot about crime and personal safety in Cook County.

This whole Mental Health thing leaves me conflicted. Yes I get it that the mental health system in the nation is broken and has been largely so since JFK emptied out all of the mental hospitals in the 60's. But a spade is still a spade. A crazy MF can murder your daughter just as well as a non crazy MF. Yet, because he is crazy he gets special treatment?

Isn't it a coincidence that the murder stats are rocketing out of control as the jail population goes down? Surprise surprise!

The Sheriff should be telling Preckwinkle to go screw herself. The Sheriff is an Officer of the Court. The Court remands someone into custody and the Sheriff complies. The Sheriff has NO say in this. His job is to lock up and house prisoners. That's it. Wait until one of these (largely unsupervised) EM inmates goes out and kills someone.

I spent 11 years at the jail before I came to the PD. I have never seem morale so low at the PD and especially the jail. Ever. The inmates (and fuck calling them guests or detainees!!!) straight up run the place. They have pizza parties for the inmates that do not whack off in front of the female C/O's. IF an inmate EVER threw piss or shit at me he would have a well whooped ass. I did not sign up to be a urinal. They have a program where C/O's can bid into court services to get away from the jail. They lose seniority and sometimes pay; and willingly do this to get out of 26th street.

What is the deal with all of these suicides? An absolute epidemic.

This Shakman thing is a pure 100% farce. You could not believe what they are hiring (and giving merit/civil service promotions to! Then there is the exempts. No one with a Law Enforcement background. Business people. Progressives. Social workers. A Psychologist to run the jail? Really you need Warden English to run that!

The medical thing at the jail is wholly caused by inefficient staffing. You can't tell me that I am going to take a job, and never see a weekend day off for benefit time or not for like 10 years. Got a wedding to go to? Take a medical. And save the comments about its a job, blah blah blah.

The uniforms look like a joke. We all look like we should be delivering packages or driving the Niles free bus!

Any scandal will not make it into print. He has so many press people on the payroll or under his control the whole video release thing was really irrelevant. We are all questioning why he made this move. Totally unneeded.

And you look at the tapes, what REALLY happened? A Rodney King moment? No. You see nothing. An uncooperative inmates being dragged to a jail cell. What are they supposed to do? Carry him in a chariot?

I once had a CO slap the glasses off my face & break them because I didn't go to my cell immediately upon being ordered to. Yes, I disobeyed, and had I followed orders, I would have not been subjected to the loss of my sight in that environment.

Sounds like you answered your own dilemma. How many fingers am I holding up?

Oh yeah GREAT GUY the same Vince Winters who handed down a 140 day suspension to a good officer for not reporting another officer alleged excessive force. We have all seen the video the officer was defending himself and Winters nails the guy who allegedly witnessed the NON-excessive force. Dont feel guilty Vince- while the officer is losing his home REMEMBER you did society a great service and more importantly you keep Tommy very happy. Keep the 399 donations flowing Vince.

Anonymous Anonymous said...You people who are railroading Vince Winters are completely wrong. He has done more for the 19th Ward, and keeping 19th Warders employed than anyone since Jeremiah Joyce.

Crime out of control,hard core assho*les walking the streets with I bonds and EM bracelets, good sworn people loosing jobs because of the Spanish inquisition merit board and all you can say is he helps the 19th ward.What we have here is a Chicago political hack in all his glory, taxes,crime and corruption through the roof but keep voting them back in and defending them on the net cuz "I gota keep my spot". Hope you or one of your relatives winds up in front of a political kangaroo court real soon,then you can run to your masters,drop to your knees and do what you do best.It might also work when some sh*thead is holding a gun to your head some rainy night in Beverly,we know you"ll try!

Stay safe everyone. This Adminstration has ZERO Exp in what the front line Officers,Sergeants,Lt's And Supts Deal with everyday. Ive seen alot of Changes in my 22 yrs working there. Inmates are no longer Criminals. They are now Labeled as Mentally Ill. This is the mindset by this Adminstration. This is what the Adminstration has Created and forced the staff to be Assaulted by inmates throwing Shit and Piss at staff. Inmates jerking off to staff. The Inmates are Rewarded by this Adminstration by Pizza Parties and other things. This Adminstration puts up a front that they are there to Help the Officers and come up with a little Programs to say they care. But then they get on the news stating we are a bunch of Jag Offs. The Amazing thing is that the Frontline Staff are all together in this and will always be there to Protect Each other from Harms way. We are use to being threaten and abused by Inmates and Adminstration. Ive Seen Plenty of Adminstrations come and go. This Adminstration will be replaced too. Times are hard for anyone on the frontline right now . But stay strong and think about what your Confronted with. Think about your Family when doing your job. This Adminstration has no Problem with Firing you or Putting you in Prison. They could care less about your Family. So be safe do your job and spend as much time with your Family. Correctional staff are very strong and will over come this. They cant take that away from us.